The Rest of the Story...

Glow

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....While Adams was pressing the State of Texas hard on their methods, most national news outlets were doing just the opposite. Newspapers, wire services and cable television programs all told a different story. They relied heavily on Texas authorities, many of them unnamed and leaking information about the case. They turned to academics who have studied polygamy. And they told the stories of women who have left polygamist compounds

Adams' work was initially brought to my attention by a student who was writing a paper alleging just such a bias. But when I looked more closely, what I saw was a journalist asking tough questions.

Avoiding pack journalism has always been difficult. We've heard a lot about the failures of the media leading up to the Iraq War. But similar failures take place on a smaller level every day in American journalism. So what does it take?

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=67&aid=144620
 
To save time lets start at the tail end of this case and work our way back...

CPS invited some mental health workers to the various shelters to help care for the hundreds of children. The mental health workers were disturbed by what they saw of CPS’s treatment of the women and children, and their written reports corroborate the bitter complaints of the FLDS mothers. I don’t think the news media has given this aspect of the story the attention it deserves — so here are some excerpts from the various reports that have been made public:

*“The CPS workers were openly rude to the mothers and the children, yelled at them for trying to wave to friends and family members in surrounding shelters, threatened them with arrest if they did not stop waving to others, continually reminded them that the women were guests only and could be made to leave if they did not cooperate, threatened the mothers with never seeing their children again if they did not cooperate, and ignored requests for anything.”

*“Try to imagine all these children from age 1 to 12 years, left in that coliseum [separated from their mothers] with only CPS and [police officers] to care for them. The only others were mothers whom CPS decided were under 18 and kept in their custody along with their children. The floor was literally slick with tears in places. A baby was left in a stroller without food and water for 24 hours and ended up in the hospital.

"By the second day, I was ready to run in front of the CNN cameras to shout that there was a travesty happening inside those walls…. Of course I was cautioned not to interfere in a ‘crime scene investigation.’”

“I have always been proud to be an American and a Texan but this incident is not what America or Texas stands for and something must be done to undo the horrible injustice that has been done.”

theres LOTS more if you dare...
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2008/05/30/texas-supreme-court-return-the-children/
 
A lot has been written in the press about an FLDS custom called bleeding the beast.

Was that the case specifically in the Texas group at YFZ?



Prior to the raid the YFZ community was self sustaining. According to the Deseret News of May 18, 2008, “the Texas Health and Human Services Commission has reported that none of the families who are members of the west Texas FLDS sect targeted by child protective services were on welfare.” In addition, the children were attending a private school, which received no public funds.
The cost to taxpayers since the raid, however, has been staggering. The Austin American-Statesman of May 21, 2008 estimates the entire population of Schleicher County as about 3,000, with an annual budget of $3.9 million. Court costs for the raid are expected to top $2.25 million even before attorney fees are added. Most of these expenses the county is obligated to pay.
Far from being a burden to taxpayers, the YFZ community prior to the raid was one of the largest taxpaying entities in Schleicher County. According to the Schleicher County Appraisal District, the assessed valuation of the community, including land and improvements, is $21 million. From 2004 to 2007, the FLDS have paid $1 million in property taxes, and the figure has been climbing every year.

http://www.truthwillprevail.org/index.php?parentid=1&index=41
 
I don't believe that the Texas FLDS group has ever been accused of "bleeding the beast" in Texas. In fact, many people have questioned whether or not this was happening and have always been told it didn't happen in Eldorado. However, there are a lot of missing funds from the UEP that appear to have been used in Texas. I realize that the depletion of the fund is not solely a Texas problem, but funds taken from other state and federal government sources will cause other entities to take a second look at the reasons behind said depletion.

Whitewashing the FLDS won't make their actions any more palatable.
 
Hi mykodiak,


Some people (such as myself) have had a hard time separating out the actions of the YFZ members from the actions of the FLDS group as a whole. I actually didn't know that they (the YFZ) DIDNT receive government checks. I posted that link in case maybe some other readers were as in the dark on that as I was.

I appreciate your point that the funds from the UEP might have been misappropriated for use at the YFZ ranch. That seems likely in fact.

Of course funds shouldn't be misappropriated and I also don't think that the American tax payers should have to "fund" women and children living a polygamous life.

As for your concluding statement, I agree. That statement could be flipped over to say that whitewashing the actions of CPS won't make their actions any more palatable. Both your statement and mine are correct.
 
Remember when we were being told that there was practically no way to match the mothers with the children?

That seems to have not been true.

All the children taken from the Yearning for Zion Ranch are out of state custody and have been reunited with parents, the sect and state officials said Wednesday.

http://www.sltrib.com/polygamy/ci_9485607
 
In a round-about way, they HAVE been receiving government funds since the benefits received in Utah and Arizona were deposited into the UEP and it financed a large portion of the YFZ ranch. They simply have not received any directed to them while living in Texas.

I agree, CPS has a lot work to do as well. CPS made many, many mistakes...but I still believe that society will now see a change in the FLDS's ability to hide behind the screen of "religion". There remains, at the root of all of the conflict and discussion, the enduring problem of FLDS continuing to demand that we allow underage marriage and the resultant sexual abuse simply because it is their religion. It is against the law and if they do not want to abide by the law of the land, they should not expect it to protect them when they choose to break it.
 
I agree with you on the 3 issues that you mentioned. Funds, underage marriage and sexual abuse are problems that need change.

I would add an additional issue though. I think that there are civil rights issues also.

oh I guess I would have to add one more while I am at it

the role of CPS and the media in perpetuating falsehoods and lies in this case. When FLDS lies, the outcry is huge. When it is discovered that CPS has lied, things get eerily silent.

IMO the truth needs to be looked at. No matter what it is.
 
Incredible links, Glow. Thank you for posting them. As you know, I was appalled from the beginning at what seemed to be going down, but it was very difficult to get a full picture. I am deeply grateful that parents and children are being reunited and that they are all leaving the clutches of CPS and the state of Texas.
 
....When FLDS lies, the outcry is huge. When it is discovered that CPS has lied, things get eerily silent....

The truth of this statement is deafening.

Organizations that have the extraordinary power to do what was done in this case must be held to an impeccable standard. Yet again, I fail to be impressed with the groups entrusted to keep some of our most vulnerable members safe.
 
I agree with you on the 3 issues that you mentioned. Funds, underage marriage and sexual abuse are problems that need change.

I would add an additional issue though. I think that there are civil rights issues also.

oh I guess I would have to add one more while I am at it

the role of CPS and the media in perpetuating falsehoods and lies in this case. When FLDS lies, the outcry is huge. When it is discovered that CPS has lied, things get eerily silent.

IMO the truth needs to be looked at. No matter what it is.
I have heard so many rumors about what went on there, from pets all being killed to boys being tossed out, having to turn to prostitution to survive.

I wondered how many of those things were even true, even though they were being presented as fact.

I also believe CPS way way way overstepped their bounds, and my heart breaks for these children who were ripped from their mothers.

I hope the truth comes out and if charges need to be filed, they be filed appropriately.
 
The truth of this statement is deafening.

Organizations that have the extraordinary power to do what was done in this case must be held to an impeccable standard. Yet again, I fail to be impressed with the groups entrusted to keep some of our most vulnerable members safe.


I know that you have had much concern for this situation and these children SM. :blowkiss:

My children are grown but if they were not I would be beside myself at the thought that any organization could take my children first and sort it out later. The ability of a government, any government, to reach into a home needs to be watched carefully.
 
I have heard so many rumors about what went on there, from pets all being killed to boys being tossed out, having to turn to prostitution to survive.

I wondered how many of those things were even true, even though they were being presented as fact.

I also believe CPS way way way overstepped their bounds, and my heart breaks for these children who were ripped from their mothers.

I hope the truth comes out and if charges need to be filed, they be filed appropriately.

I agree with you PSUfan. We all have a chance here to learn a better way for in the future dont we?

Did you ever read this before? It was written about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power. I first read it here at WS several years ago when a poster had it as their sig line.

"In Germany they first came for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me and by that time no one was left to speak up."

-Martin Niemöller
 
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2008/04/96681.html


"Why you should care about the raids on the FLDS.
Imagine you live in an apartment complex. Someone calls a tip into the police alleging that a child living in one of the units has been raped. The police respond by surrounding the apartment complex with military vehicles. They storm the complex, remove each and every child from the apartment complex, and put each and every child in foster care. The offense of the parents of these children is that they live in the same apartment complex as a resident accused of child rape by an anonymous party. Next, imagine that the anonymous party's call is a hoax and a Judge refuses to return the children to their parents.

Could this happen in the United States? It has. The victims were the residents of theYFZ Ranch. The caller was a woman in Colorado with a history of making false accusations and anonymous telephone calls similar to this one.
My understanding is that some of the families in the YFZ Ranch are monogamous and there is a case of a single mother as well. These people too have had their children removed.
Why should you care?
Flash back in time. What does it mean when a government begins to oppress its citizens based on their religion and beliefs? What does it mean when a government displays its willingness to cart people away en masse? What does it mean when the people of a country sit back and let it happen? What is next? Will the come after the children of Muslims? Will they come after the children of anarchists, communists, or objectors to war? You can be confident that when they do, they will do it in the name of the safety and well being of the children.

Oh, the children. How tyrants fawn over children! They drop bombs on them in one place and declare their love for them in another. And so, when these tyrants tell us that it is all about the children we should question their true motivations.

Perhaps you find the lifestyle or beliefs of the FLDS offensive to your sensibilities. Catholic conquistadors thought the same of Native Americans. Invading protestant Puritans thought likewise of the kind locals who shared Thanksgiving with them in Plymouth. Nazis thought similarly about Jews. In all of these cases they knew the majority would turn a blind eye to violations of human rights and genocide.

I am not a member of the FLDS. I am a leftist radical. I care about the FLDS because they are human beings and their rights are being violated. I also care because I cannot avoid the question: "Whose rights next will be disregarded?" You should care too."
 
I know that you have had much concern for this situation and these children SM. :blowkiss:

My children are grown but if they were not I would be beside myself at the thought that any organization could take my children first and sort it out later. The ability of a government, any government, to reach into a home needs to be watched carefully.

Glow, great links. Thanks so much for posting them. The bolded part of your statement above is the crux of my disagreement with this raid. Perhaps more frightening than the way this was handled, is that so many people support the actions of CPS.
 
Glow, great links. Thanks so much for posting them. The bolded part of your statement above is the crux of my disagreement with this raid. Perhaps more frightening than the way this was handled, is that so many people support the actions of CPS.

I agree Sally. Once a precedent is set we cannot control where (or against which people) it goes next.
 
If the FLDS was an apartment complex the children would not have been taken. This is an apartment complex with doors to the outside locked, run by a bunch of sex offenders, peopled by parents who believe they must do whatever the sex offenders tell them to with their children.

If any excuse other than religion were given for this, there'd be no one doubting that the children had to be removed until the parents agreed to stop handing their children's fates over to the sex offenders.
 
I agree with you PSUfan. We all have a chance here to learn a better way for in the future dont we?

Did you ever read this before? It was written about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power. I first read it here at WS several years ago when a poster had it as their sig line.

"In Germany they first came for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me and by that time no one was left to speak up."
-Martin Niemöller
This line could as well work for the children - first they come for your friends, then for your sisters, then for you. And through it all, your parents don't speak up.
 
If the FLDS was an apartment complex the children would not have been taken. This is an apartment complex with doors to the outside locked, run by a bunch of sex offenders, peopled by parents who believe they must do whatever the sex offenders tell them to with their children.

If any excuse other than religion were given for this, there'd be no one doubting that the children had to be removed until the parents agreed to stop handing their children's fates over to the sex offenders.

Details,

We have been "fed" a lot of information in all of this. I think you and I both agree that we need to sift through it all and find out what is really true. In an attempt to do that I am asking you the following,

This is an apartment complex with doors to the outside locked,

do we know this to be true?

run by a bunch of sex offenders

who specifically?

peopled by parents who believe they must do whatever the sex offenders tell them to with their children.

I understand that this religion needs to bring itself up to a higher standard. I am sure that we cannot lump ALL the parents together anymore than I would want to be "lumped" together with "all" the parents in my subdivision OR apartment complex OR congregation.
 

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